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00:11F.B.I. Chief J. Edgar Hoover's death had a hidden side effect,
00:16unleashing Nixon's impulse to gather intelligence on his enemies illegally.
00:21And six weeks later, the Watergate break-in occurred.
00:26Congressman Wright Patman launched an investigation into the burglary.
00:30But the Nixon White House used blackmail and political pressure to thwart him.
00:35One more opponent sidelined.
00:48Okay.
00:49Put yourself back in time to the year 1972.
00:53Like a lot of people, you're watching Watergate unfold and trying to make sense of it.
00:58When do you think it would have hit you?
01:00That the whole thing could be a massive conspiracy.
01:07If you had a dark hunch that you were not being told the full story,
01:13I think December 8th, 1972 would have been a day when your ears perked up a little bit.
01:20Good evening.
01:21There's been a bad plane crash in Chicago near Midway Airport.
01:32On that snowy afternoon, United Airlines Flight 553 was a minute away from landing at Midway Airport in Chicago
01:40when it crashed on a residential street on the city's south side.
01:44We heard this jet and I looked and I saw the plane hit the garage and go through it.
01:52And then I saw it go up in flames and I ran over there and I could hear people screaming
01:57and people were trying to get in.
02:01I'm telling you about this plane crash because it happened about six months after the Watergate break-in.
02:07Because among the dead was Dorothy Hunt, the wife of E. Howard Hunt, one of the burglary's masterminds.
02:15Because when they found her body, she was carrying $10,000 in cash,
02:19which, seeing as Hunt was about to testify about his involvement in the burglary,
02:24looked like it may have been hush money.
02:26There was a lot of screaming and we opened that hatch to crawl out, but we're already inside somebody's house.
02:34And because an abnormally large number of FBI agents, around 50 or so, arrived at the site directly after the
02:41crash.
02:41You'll leave the investigation up to the federal authorities?
02:44Well, the men are doing everything they can.
02:47And finally, because the day after, Richard Nixon nominated the head of his infamous plumbers unit
02:54to the position of Undersecretary of Transportation,
02:57giving him direct control over the agency that would be investigating the crash.
03:02Any indication why the plane was there, Loser?
03:04No, but the investigating team will start its work tonight when they arrive.
03:12Now, do I think Nixon orchestrated a plane crash to eliminate Hunt's wife so that she wouldn't squeal?
03:18No. That's insane.
03:23But at the time of the crash, if you had said that Nixon was involved in Watergate,
03:28most Americans would have called you insane, too.
03:32If you want to know what it was like to try to understand Watergate as it was happening,
03:36to try to figure out what was actually true and what was a crackpot theory,
03:41I think the crash illustrates a tension that you would have felt back then,
03:45a tension that delayed Watergate in becoming a massive story.
03:49I think the people in this country have a right to know if the United Airlines is being used to
03:54get rid of a witness.
03:55Because Watergate was such uncharted territory, it presented a unique challenge for anyone trying to make sense of it.
04:04How do you tell the difference between a coincidence and a conspiracy?
04:09We shall try tonight to pull together the threads of this amazing story,
04:14quite unlike any in our modern American history.
04:17...responsibility to defend this great office against false charges.
04:23What was it like to live through Watergate without knowing how it was all going to end?
04:28...causing this nation to neglect matters of far greater importance.
04:35One way to find out is to look at that moment of American history
04:40as seen through the eyes of the people who lived it,
04:43back when they had no idea what was coming.
04:46If we learn the important lessons of Watergate,
04:48we can emerge from this experience a better and a stronger nation.
04:54I'm Leon Nafok.
04:56This is Slow Burn.
05:00Slow Burn
05:14The crash of United Airlines Flight 553 got a lot of coverage on both television and in the papers.
05:20And while most of the press focused on the death toll and what may have gone wrong with the plane,
05:24there was someone, a much less mainstream voice,
05:28who covered the crash from a very different angle.
05:32Her name was May Brussel.
05:38This is Dialogue Conspiracy,
05:41a public affairs presentation of KLRB News.
05:45Hello, and we'll get right into the events of the week, Dialogue Conspiracy.
05:50And we're going to start right off with the Watergate affair.
05:54Brussel's radio show was broadcast out of KLRB,
05:58a small left-wing FM rock station in California.
06:02She had been following the Watergate story closely from the beginning.
06:06But when Howard Hunt's wife Dorothy died,
06:09Brussel did not think it was just a coincidence.
06:11I just want to mention something which was shocking.
06:14If you've been following the Watergate story and listening to my program,
06:18we talk about Howard Hunt,
06:20and Mrs. Howard Hunt died on that plane crash in Chicago December the 8th,
06:25carrying money.
06:26She also had some ideas about the cash that Dorothy Hunt was carrying at the time of the incident.
06:31The money came from El Paso gas.
06:33It had something to do with John Mitchell.
06:35There were cyanide traces in the bloodstream of the pilot.
06:39I think you could kind of see where she was going with all this.
06:42The people in this country have a right to know
06:44if the United Airlines is being used
06:46to get rid of a witness of a conspiracy trial like the Watergate.
06:51For May Brussel,
06:53United Flight 553 was another dot that she could connect
06:56in the ever-expanding conspiracy of Watergate.
07:00And while she had some pretty far-fetched ideas about it,
07:03she was one of the only people at the time
07:05to really pay attention to Martha Mitchell.
07:07Martha Mitchell got on the telephone on Thursday from out in California.
07:11She said that if you could see me, you wouldn't believe me.
07:14I'm black and blue.
07:15I'm a political prisoner.
07:17They left me in California with absolutely no information,
07:21and they don't want me to talk.
07:23She's preparing for a show.
07:24Is anyone editing her?
07:26No.
07:28No.
07:29Yeah, editing.
07:29That's a good question about May Brussel.
07:31A lot of us suggested,
07:34May, talk slower.
07:35May, stop and explain a little bit about this.
07:40My name is David Bean,
07:41and I was program director at KLRB FM Radio
07:45while May Brussel was broadcasting her program.
07:48May felt an affinity with Martha Mitchell.
07:52And you can place all the blame right on the White House.
07:55Because she felt Martha Mitchell was being muzzled,
07:59and May knew she was right.
08:03And it wasn't just Martha.
08:05May Brussel was one of the first public voices to assert,
08:08as it was happening,
08:09that Watergate was a government cover-up.
08:11The way the government covers up things when they're caught
08:14and show the parallel to the way they covered up
08:16being caught in the office of the Democratic Party this week.
08:21May sourced her information from newspapers, primarily.
08:26She was cutting out clippings.
08:27She was filing the clippings in boxes.
08:31She'd say, you know,
08:32this newspaper just reported this,
08:34and this guy did this,
08:35and that means this guy,
08:37and they don't even know about the relationship
08:39to another guy that I've discovered.
08:42You know, I just filed up the newspaper articles
08:44when I cut the paper,
08:45even because I take eight papers a day
08:46and I have a section of things to read right away,
08:48and then things I can read later.
08:50And then the right-of-way I separate
08:52into whether I want to copy them and cross-file them
08:54or put them in particular categories.
08:57Her whole life became this research.
09:02Now, I feel compelled to say here
09:04that Brussel covered a lot of ground.
09:06And she espoused many theories
09:08that I just don't believe in.
09:10She thought the government
09:11was using chemical weapons as mind control.
09:14The CIA has a laboratory
09:15and facilities to spread germ warfare
09:18inside the USA,
09:19and I don't have any doubt
09:20that they will be doing this.
09:22Also, she was really fixated
09:24on dune buggies.
09:26Brussel believed that they were essential
09:28to the military-industrial complex
09:30and were being used to carry out
09:32all kinds of covert operations.
09:34He gave a lot of warning
09:36about the dune buggy scene
09:37in the last few months
09:38with plans in mind
09:40that one is to plow into the hippie communes
09:43and the other is to kill 63 million minority people.
09:46That's right, dune buggies.
09:49But for someone who hosted a show
09:51called Dialogue Conspiracy,
09:53her background was pretty conventional.
09:56My heart is always looking round.
10:01May Brussel grew up
10:03in a wealthy Los Angeles family
10:04descended from a California department store owner.
10:07It was a pretty comfortable upbringing
10:09with dinner parties and vacations.
10:12She studied philosophy at Stanford.
10:15Afterwards, she got married
10:17and settled into a quiet life
10:18as a stay-at-home mother in L.A.
10:20She said that during this period,
10:22she was just a housewife,
10:24interested in tennis courts,
10:25dancing lessons,
10:27and orthodonture for her children.
10:30That life ended
10:31on November 22, 1963.
10:42Put me on, Phil.
10:43Put me on.
10:45Phil, am I on?
10:47We understand there is a bit of shooting.
10:49We know it's the presidential car.
10:51You can see Mrs. Kennedy's pink suit.
10:52There's a secret service man
10:53spread eagle over the top of the car.
10:56Just a moment.
10:57Just a moment.
10:57We have a bulletin coming in.
10:59President Kennedy has been assassinated.
11:02It's official now.
11:03The president is dead.
11:07JFK's assassination transformed
11:09how May Brussel saw the world.
11:11And she no longer felt
11:12the government could be trusted.
11:14At the time that John Kennedy was killed,
11:16the answers were so pat in the news media.
11:18I wanted to know what kind of a world
11:20I was going to raise my family in.
11:22She disputed the Warren Commission's conclusion
11:25that Kennedy's killer, Lee Harvey Oswald,
11:27had acted alone.
11:28The trajectory of the bullet has been questioned.
11:30We want the undeveloped x-rays of the body.
11:34We want the names of the people involved.
11:36And to better understand what she suspected
11:38was a cover-up,
11:39for Christmas,
11:40she bought herself all 26 volumes
11:42of the Commission's findings.
11:43I really wanted to know
11:45if Oswald was a patsy.
11:47And your findings?
11:50Are Oswald was a patsy?
11:53It became a splitting point
11:55with her husband
11:56that he didn't like her
11:57doing this Kennedy research.
12:01But May was an incredibly strong,
12:04unique woman.
12:06She went out on her own.
12:08She took her life,
12:10her thoughts,
12:11her beliefs,
12:11and her research,
12:12moved to Carmel, California
12:14with her kids,
12:17and did what she was meant to do.
12:20She started to give lectures.
12:22And by 1971,
12:23she had a whole Sunday afternoon radio show
12:26on KLRB,
12:27devoted to her theories
12:28on the JFK assassination.
12:30Just like they tried to say
12:31that Oswald was a communist
12:35and killed John Kennedy
12:36when actually the anti-Castric Cubans
12:39were involved.
12:39Which meant that when Watergate
12:41happened the following year,
12:43May Brussels was primed
12:44and ready for it.
12:45History will prove
12:47that my research is accurate
12:48right down to the last sentence.
12:51Seven years,
12:52and now it's all coming to...
12:54It's all coming home.
12:55I never thought it was...
12:55On her first show
12:56after the break-in,
12:57she latched onto something
12:59that she firmly believed
13:00was not a coincidence.
13:01But it's interesting
13:02that the anti-Castro Cubans
13:04were in this office,
13:06and I wonder who they were
13:07because I have it all here
13:08and time's running out.
13:10As her research
13:11into the JFK assassination
13:12expanded,
13:13she began to notice
13:14a recurring subplot
13:15playing in the background,
13:17Cubans doing secret work
13:19for the American government.
13:20The cast of characters,
13:21all those people
13:22were involved
13:23with the Bay of Pigs invasion.
13:25It was a curious thread to pull,
13:27but she was right to.
13:29Because once you start
13:30putting together
13:31all the reasons
13:32those four Cuban expats
13:33were there that night,
13:35you start going
13:36to some pretty interesting places.
14:01operation Pedro Pong was a program
14:04that was initiated
14:05by the United States government
14:07to bring the children of the underground
14:10who were fighting against the Castro regime
14:13to the United States while their parents were fighting.
14:17Over 14,000 miners came that way.
14:21I was one of them.
14:24My name is Maria de los Ángeles Torres.
14:26I'm a political scientist,
14:27and I study and write about Cuban exiles.
14:30Cuba was a country that aspired
14:32to have its own independent government
14:33for democratic institutions.
14:36This is only the beginning.
14:38The last battle will be fought in the capital.
14:41You can be sure.
14:45I remember when Fidel came into Havana.
14:48My father picked me up, took me,
14:50and, you know, we went and greeted the rebels,
14:52and finally we're going to get a government
14:55that responds to the people.
15:01Fidel had promised elections,
15:03and he decided not to hold them.
15:07All of a sudden, everything that you were doing
15:10was subject to somebody listening
15:13and somebody reporting on you.
15:16So when Fidel starts using firing squads
15:20and killing some 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds
15:25who had just been supporters of him,
15:28but now were demanding that he bring democracy in elections,
15:33that's where I think a lot of people turned.
15:43Turned and fled to America,
15:45where many landed in Miami.
15:49These newly arrived exiles left their homeland
15:52because they had been living in fear,
15:54because in some cases,
15:55they'd seen loved ones killed in the streets,
15:57all because of a communist dictator.
16:00So in the early 1960s,
16:02all of a sudden,
16:03there was a growing army of very motivated men
16:05looking to do all they could to fight communism,
16:09this time on American soil.
16:11It created a geopolitical match made in heaven,
16:15or so it seemed at the time.
16:20On April 17th, 1961,
16:22a newly formed military group of Cuban exiles,
16:25trained and funded by the CIA,
16:28invaded Cuba and tried to overthrow Fidel Castro.
16:31Here on the beaches around the Bay of Pigs,
16:33the invasion floundered.
16:35Those able to move beyond the beaches
16:37were trapped in swamp for high growth,
16:39which was burned off.
16:40Communication disappeared
16:41with the sinking of a liberty ship,
16:43which carried all the signal equipment
16:45and much ammunition.
16:46The Bay of Pigs invasion failed miserably,
16:49and most of the hundreds of Cubans who fought
16:51were either killed or taken prisoner.
16:54It is not the first time
16:55that communist tanks
16:57have rolled over gallant men and women
16:59fighting to redeem the independence of their homeland.
17:05Right after the failure of Bay of Pigs,
17:08there are people who continue
17:10to have an aspiration of overthrowing the government,
17:13and indeed,
17:14the Kennedy administration continues with its plans
17:18to overthrow the government.
17:19This time it's more covert.
17:22It is entitled Operation Mongoose.
17:25From its headquarters in Miami,
17:28Operation Mongoose launched hundreds of covert CIA operations
17:31deploying Cuban exiles.
17:41Bay of Pigs veteran and future Watergate burglar Eugenio Martinez.
17:47I was recruited by a member of the CIA.
17:53I did not know what CIA really, what it means.
17:57They said that they were rich men with some other money,
18:02and they want to help us to fight castles.
18:07They were killing people,
18:09and we were against those
18:11who were killing our people.
18:14We were taking weapons to our people in Cuba,
18:19and we were establishing connections, you know,
18:23so we could contact the people inside.
18:27That was a very dangerous work.
18:37One of the jobs that I did was to sunk
18:42a pity vote that was given to Castro
18:47as a present.
18:49This went on all throughout the 1960s.
18:53Hundreds of little jobs like this,
18:55denting communist Cuba whenever possible
18:57with the backdrop of the Cold War
18:58providing just cause.
19:09One of the grim realities of American foreign policy
19:12was a communist state 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
19:15The rhetorics of anti-communism
19:17were alive and well in the United States
19:20and maybe felt a little bit more personally
19:23in the Cuban exile community.
19:26These are soldiers, freedom fighters,
19:28who take very seriously their tasks
19:31of combating communism.
19:34I think there's a certain vulnerability
19:36that allows for the CIA
19:40and people like Howard Hunt
19:42to then prey on their sentiments.
19:46It was Hunt who employed a handful of Cubans,
19:49Martinez among them,
19:50to provide extra security
19:51for J. Edgar Hoover's memorial service.
19:54We came and served to protect
19:58the death of Hoover.
20:01We protected the corpse of him that was there.
20:06And we were prepared to break
20:09the groups that were there
20:10to create problems.
20:12It was an unusual service in several ways.
20:16For one thing,
20:16security was unusually heavy
20:18around the National Presbyterian Center,
20:20apparently on the theory
20:22that someone might try to disrupt
20:23today's solemn ceremony,
20:25but no one did.
20:26By June of 1972,
20:28the Cubans had built a reputation
20:29for pulling off a unique brand
20:31of not exactly official political work.
20:33If you were invited
20:35by the President of the United States
20:37for a job,
20:38it's very difficult
20:39that you don't accept it.
20:41I mean,
20:42it was an honor
20:43and it was a pleasure.
20:45We were trying
20:47to be a good citizen
20:49by giving
20:51a good job
20:53for the American government.
20:56That was all.
21:00I can imagine
21:01all the Watergate burglars
21:03looking back on that night
21:04felt the same way.
21:05It was technically wrong,
21:07but they were the good guys
21:08fighting the good fight.
21:12But I think
21:12if there's one guy
21:13in this whole story
21:14who took that most to heart,
21:16it was the one
21:16who designed the break-in.
21:25Howard Hunt
21:26certainly styled himself
21:27as this sort of
21:28James Bond figure.
21:29He was a CIA operative
21:31who had been one
21:32of the people in charge
21:33of the Bay of Pigs operation.
21:35Eduardo,
21:37he was a strange individual.
21:39By the way,
21:41Martinez knew Howard Hunt
21:42by his Bay of Pigs
21:43known to Gare.
21:44Eduardo.
21:46He did not impress me
21:47as an agent
21:48of the CIA
21:49or whatever.
21:50He was dedicated
21:51to make movies.
21:54Rolling.
21:56Action.
22:05Yes, one of the architects
22:07of the Watergate break-in
22:08also wrote spy novels.
22:12The Violent Ones,
22:14Where Murder Waits,
22:15The Venus Probe.
22:17These are just a few
22:18that he wrote
22:18under various pseudonyms.
22:20And if you read
22:21my personal favorite,
22:22The Coven,
22:23published the very same year
22:24that Hunt orchestrated Watergate,
22:26you might come away
22:27with a better idea
22:28for why this whole thing happened.
22:30The plot was basically
22:32our indefatigable
22:34sort of stalwart investigator,
22:37who's clearly a doppelganger
22:39for the real Howard Hunt,
22:42discovers that a figure
22:44who very closely resembles
22:45Edward Kennedy,
22:47Senator Kennedy,
22:49was actually running
22:51a literal,
22:53satanic death cult.
22:56I am free.
22:59I am supposed to require this.
23:02You almost see an allegory
23:04of that way
23:05of seeing the world.
23:06I am free.
23:08I am free.
23:09People who believed
23:10to the core of their being
23:12that politics was a battle
23:13between the forces of good
23:15and the forces of evil,
23:17and therefore,
23:18basically,
23:19the ends justified any means.
23:45There were actually a few attempts
23:47made before June 17th
23:48to break into the DNC headquarters
23:50at Watergate.
23:54That was a banquet
23:55that gave us
23:56to say
23:58that it was Ameritas,
23:59a company
24:00that we had
24:01with our friend
24:03in Miami,
24:08in a food
24:09there
24:10in the
24:10restaurant
24:11of Watergate.
24:13But we did it
24:15to enter
24:15in Watergate
24:16and look
24:16the documents
24:17because they said
24:19that the
24:19Mógrida
24:21was helping
24:23Castro
24:24and the governors.
24:26Know
24:27that they're going to
24:28fight
24:28with men.
24:32But on that particular night,
24:34the DNC staffers
24:35worked late,
24:36preventing any opportunity
24:37to break into their office.
24:48A few weeks later,
24:49though,
24:50after another failed attempt,
24:52they got their chance.
24:53The operation
24:54was late.
24:57And I went
24:58and I got it
24:58and I got it
24:58late.
25:01Figures
25:01that we were
25:02well dressed
25:03and all
25:03with clothes
25:04and all that
25:05stuff.
25:07Eduardo
25:07had some
25:08very rare pants
25:10and Gordon
25:11Lee
25:11sent him
25:12to the house
25:13to change
25:13clothes.
25:16He sent
25:17to change
25:19clothes
25:19and
25:20to get
25:20more
25:21available.
25:48I'm making
25:49security check.
25:51I found
25:52that the
25:52latch
25:53on the basement
25:54door had
25:54been taped.
25:56I turned
25:56later to
25:57found that
25:57the same
25:58door
25:59had been
26:00retaped
26:00again,
26:01the latch.
26:02At that time,
26:03I proceeded
26:04upstairs
26:04to make
26:05a call
26:05to the police
26:06police.
26:10the
26:10had
26:11a
26:11look
26:12out
26:12in
26:13Howard
26:14Johnson,
26:15but they
26:16left us
26:17alone and
26:17then the police
26:18got us
26:19and we
26:19caught up.
26:20They were not there
26:21because we could have
26:22solved the problem.
26:24Gordon
26:24Lee
26:51On that same night, just a few blocks away,
26:53Roger Stone was house-sitting for Creep Scheduling Director Bart Porter
26:59when he heard the telephone ring.
27:04Jim McCord was on the line, and he said,
27:07This is Jim McCord. Is Porter there?
27:10I said, No, sir, he's away from the weekend.
27:12Could I take a message?
27:14And he said, Damn.
27:17All right, you expect to hear from him?
27:19I said, Well, I really don't, but if I do, I'll be happy to relay a message.
27:23He said, No, never mind, and he hung up.
27:29About an hour later, Gordon Liddy called.
27:34I'm looking for Porter. I said, He's not here.
27:36Where is he? I said, He's on the West Coast. I'm just house-sitting.
27:40He said, Do you expect to hear from him? I said, No.
27:42He said, Well, if you do, tell him Liddy's looking for him.
27:45I said, Yes, sir.
27:47The next morning, of course, I saw the Washington Post headlines that men had broken into the Watergate.
27:57A spokesman for the committee to re-elect the president said that this had no connection to the committee, and
28:03they knew nothing about it.
28:05I immediately began to suspect, because of those two calls, that was not the case.
28:10Five men were arrested early Saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment at the Democratic National Committee.
28:17And it turns out that one of them has an office in the headquarters of the committee for the re
28:23-election of the president.
28:27This is a very big story, just breaking at the Watergate.
28:30Another man that was arrested was Eugene Martinez.
28:33He's listed as a real estate agent and a soldier of fortune.
28:38When the first Washington Post stories about what happened at the Watergate landed in American living rooms, they barely registered
28:45as a blip.
28:45Snow detergent gets out everything.
28:47Cotton? How, Sheila?
28:49Punched with never clean as cotton.
28:55It was the height of the primary season for the 72 Nixon re-election campaign.
29:01So most of the bureau was assigned to different candidates out there.
29:05So the bureau was pretty empty.
29:07They had very little choice but to send me.
29:11I'm Leslie Stahl.
29:12First story I covered for CBS was Watergate.
29:16I was just sent to cover the arraignment of the burglars.
29:21There was only one other reporter in the whole courtroom.
29:25And it just so happened that it was Bob Woodward, who was the other reporter, covering for the Metro page
29:32of the Washington Post, not even for their main section.
29:36That's how insignificant all the news outlets thought it was.
29:41Hello, sir.
29:42How come you're all here today?
29:44Deposition's being taken.
29:46How come all these people are here to take deposition?
29:50But with each tick, it got a little more and a little more suspicious.
29:55Bob particularly had the feeling almost immediately.
30:00We knew we were on to quite a story that very first day.
30:05My name is Barry Sussman.
30:07I was the editor in charge of Watergate coverage for the Washington Post.
30:11Our police reporter was told in advance that he might be allowed to look at some of the belongings of
30:18the arrested men.
30:21And he sought address books.
30:23One of them had in it the name Howard Hunt, W.H.
30:28He also found a check for $6.36 that Howard Hunt had left behind in one of their hotel rooms.
30:40Woodward called the White House, asked to speak to Howard Hunt.
30:47Hunt answered the phone, and Woodward said,
30:50Do you mind telling me why was your name in the address of these men who were arrested at the
30:56Watergate?
31:18This set the stage for the most consequential cat-and-mouse game probably ever played in American politics.
31:25On one side were the journalists tasked with uncovering what really happened.
31:29And on the other was the White House, where the staff was doing all they could to make sure they
31:34failed.
31:35It was really just the company line.
31:36We don't know anything about this.
31:38We're not involved in this.
31:40Go back to your surrogate scheduling and don't worry about it.
31:42But neither the president, obviously, or anybody in the White House, or anybody in authority in any of the committees
31:48working for the re-election of the president
31:50have any responsibility for it, and therefore there's no reason why it should be a matter of concern to the
31:57American public.
31:58The White House today simply refused to comment.
32:00Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler refused comment a total of 23 times.
32:05The president's press secretary said of this incident, I'm not going to comment from the White House on a third
32:11-rate burglary attempt.
32:13When Ron Ziegler said it was just a third-rate burglary, it became one of those great Watergate phrases.
32:20A third-rate burglary, that's all it was.
32:24I'm Connie Chung.
32:25I covered Watergate for CBS News.
32:28It's sort of like no collusion.
32:30It kept getting repeated and repeated and repeated, and that was the White House line.
32:36Presidential Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler called the bugging a third-rate burglary attempt.
32:41I think the American public has a better perspective on the relative insignificance of the Watergate matter.
32:47The Post said the Republicans had a secret fund to pay for political spying and sabotage.
32:52The White House denied it.
32:53The Post has maliciously sought to give the appearance of a direct connection between the White House and the Watergate.
32:59The administration fought it, tried to come down hard on the Washington Post, make it seem like we were an
33:05instrument of the Democratic campaign.
33:08I don't respect the type of journalism, the shabby journalism that is being practiced by the Washington Post.
33:16Spokesmen for the committee to re-elect the president called the Washington Post story fiction and absurdity.
33:32It was a deft media strategy that paid off, especially since, if you were wondering just how far up the
33:39chain Watergate went,
33:40the man at the top was doing all he could to keep his distance.
33:45The reporters couldn't get to Nixon, but one day I walked into the West Gate,
33:51and all of a sudden I see Nixon standing there.
33:56And he's been in the bunker.
33:57You have not been able to either see or hear from him at all.
34:01And here he was, standing in his normal, you know, sort of position, and Secret Service around.
34:08They swarmed around me, but I kept walking directly up to him, and they didn't rustle me down or anything.
34:14So I began to talk to him, and I began asking him questions.
34:19I was afraid to take out my notebook, because I was afraid he wouldn't talk to me if I wrote
34:25things down.
34:26So I was trying to remember what he was saying.
34:29Well, he didn't really say very much.
34:31I was asking him all kinds of Watergate questions, and he would dance around.
34:36And finally, he said to me,
34:38How much money do you make?
34:42And I said,
34:44What?
34:44And he said,
34:46How much money do you make?
34:48Well, I make $27,000 a year, but if I do a Cronkite news report, I get an extra $35.
34:56So if I turn the radio spots out, I can get my salary up to maybe $29,000 a year,
35:03almost $30,000 a year.
35:05And he listened to this ridiculous rendition of how much I made, and he said,
35:11You know what?
35:11You have to make more money.
35:18And then he walked away.
35:21With an election coming up, Nixon was working hard to beat back the story of Watergate.
35:26And it was working.
35:28I think Nixon has done a good job with us so far.
35:31What about the Watergate incident?
35:34I don't know what that means.
35:35What was frustrating mainly was that the public interest in this wasn't heightened.
35:42What were those men after at the Watergate?
35:45Who sent them?
35:46How were they paid?
35:47And I guess we were more curious than frustrated.
35:52Why aren't the American people as upset and affected by this as we are?
36:01We do live in a little fishbowl in Washington.
36:04And what was going on right outside the environs frustrated us.
36:11Or what wasn't going on.
36:17One evening, there was a knock on my door, and it was Carl Bernstein.
36:23He literally put his foot in the door so I couldn't close it, and he said,
36:27I want to ask you about the committee to re-elect the president.
36:31And I said, I have nothing to say.
36:33I then realized that Watergate was not over and that they were going to continue to dig.
36:42Carl Bernstein called John Mitchell to question Mitchell's involvement.
36:48And he apparently woke Mitchell up.
36:50Mitchell said, what time is it?
36:53And Bernstein said, it's 11 o'clock.
36:57Bernstein told him then why he was calling.
37:00And Mitchell said, you guys are doing some story on us, huh?
37:03Well, we're going to do one story on you when all this is over.
37:07He said, Katie Graham is going to get her tit cord in the ringer.
37:18Hello.
37:18Mr. Ziegler, sir.
37:20Hi.
37:20How are you on?
37:21Hi, Ron.
37:21Yes, Mr. President.
37:23I want it clearly understood that from now on, ever,
37:28no reporter from the Washington Post is ever to be in the White House.
37:32Is that clear?
37:32Absolutely.
37:33Unless it's a press conference.
37:34Yes, sir.
37:35Never.
37:35Never in the White House, no church service, and no photographer either.
37:40No photographer.
37:41Is that clear?
37:42Yes, sir.
37:42None.
37:43Now, that is a total order.
37:45And if necessary, I'll fire you.
37:48Do you understand?
37:48I do understand.
37:50Okay.
37:50All right.
37:51Good.
37:52Okay.
37:55It was around that time that I remember looking back and saying,
38:00uh-oh, we're way out on a limb, aren't we, and we'll never get back.
38:05Uh, and from that period on, I began to think of the story as not a story about a break
38:13-in,
38:13about campaign contributions, but about Nixon.
38:21We're way out on a limb is a great way to understand the stakes.
38:25Because at that time, the idea that the president could be involved in a criminal conspiracy was just unimaginable.
38:31In two centuries, only 36 tenants have occupied the White House.
38:36On temporary lease from that most demanding and generous of landlords, the people of the United States.
38:42The man who occupies this historic office must fulfill many roles.
38:47Statesman, strategist, ceremonial leader.
38:50Guardian of the nation's spirit and honor.
38:52This compulsion to believe that we're led by honorable men, that our nation is honorable,
38:57very much drove an almost willful inability for Americans to accept that this might have had anything to do with
39:06Richard Nixon.
39:10Now, that might sound like a lofty interpretation of Nixon.
39:13But that's because we think of him through the lens of Watergate and everything that it revealed.
39:18When he was first elected, Americans saw him in a much different light.
39:23The night is long and it is still dark.
39:26As far as civilization goes,
39:29but we will never be perfect.
39:31For man is not perfect.
39:34But we are on the way.
39:36On the day Nixon was sworn into office in January of 1969,
39:41a rabbi named Edgar F. Magnin offered this blessing.
39:44Our Father's God to thee, author of liberty to thee,
39:47we sing.
39:49Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light.
39:54Protect us by thy might.
39:56I think it's a good window into the expectations that people had for Nixon as an American president.
40:01There are few faint streets of pink in the sky.
40:06We await the dawn.
40:08Almighty God bless our country and him who will be our leader
40:12and our guide in the coming years.
40:15Amen.
40:16By the way,
40:17this rabbi who offered the stirring prayer for Nixon
40:21was actually May Brussels' father.
40:27Now, if on that day,
40:29Brussels shared her father's hopes for the president,
40:31four years later,
40:33they had been thoroughly dashed.
40:34Mr. Nixon,
40:36President Nixon,
40:37I call him Mr.
40:39because I do not recognize him.
40:40He's my president.
40:42He may be yours,
40:43but I call him Mr. Nixon.
40:45Long may our land.
40:47Long may our land.
40:47Long may our land.
40:47Despite her insistence that a conspiracy was afoot,
40:50there was every indication that Richard Nixon would stand on that same podium
40:54and be sworn in for a second term.
40:57Long may our land.
40:57But there was someone else,
40:59someone with a much bigger audience than May Brussels,
41:01who was also trying to get in the way.
41:06At first,
41:07it was called the Watergate Caper.
41:09Five men,
41:10apparently caught in the act of burglarizing
41:13and bugging Democratic headquarters in Washington.
41:32Cronkite was the man that everybody watched on television.
41:37My family used to sit around and watch Walter Cronkite.
41:40We were CBS News devotees.
41:43We gathered together and watched Uncle Walter every night.
41:48Good evening.
41:48This is Walter Cronkite at CBS News headquarters in New York.
41:52And at the end,
41:52he would say,
41:53and that's the way it is.
41:54And that's the way it is.
41:56Monday,
41:56September 11th,
41:571972.
41:59He was incredible.
42:00We loved Walter.
42:02America loved Walter Cronkite.
42:06As weeks and months passed
42:08and television had no coverage of Watergate,
42:11Walter Cronkite kind of got fed up.
42:14Most of what is known of the Watergate affair
42:16has emerged in puzzling bits and pieces
42:19through digging by the nation's press and television newsmen.
42:22And on a Friday night,
42:24not long before the election,
42:26Walter Cronkite spent maybe 20 minutes
42:28of his half-hour show reporting Watergate.
42:31Watergate was only part of,
42:32in the Washington Post's words,
42:34a broad campaign of political espionage
42:37and sabotage against the Democratic Party.
42:40There were individuals with 20 years' experience
42:44in the CIA and several years with the FBI,
42:46and we were working for the former Attorney General.
42:49So I couldn't question the legality
42:50of what was going on.
42:51I just took my orders
42:52and did what I was instructed to do.
42:54There was no news in it.
42:55It was all stuff that we'd had in the Washington Post.
42:59But to many of the viewers nationwide,
43:01it was news.
43:01In our next report,
43:03the money behind the Watergate affair.
43:06Cronkite announced on that Friday night
43:08that he was going to have a follow-up story on Monday.
43:12Cronkite's first report on Watergate terrified Nixon.
43:17This was a man, after all, who once said,
43:19the American people don't believe anything's real
43:22until they see it on television.
43:24It's shadows, as usual.
43:26And I think he really bent that.
43:29Yeah, but it is.
43:31It's hard to see it.
43:32I see the page as well.
43:35I'm moving around.
43:38See, the shadow comes directly on the page.
43:42See what I mean?
43:43If you just knock it off the page,
43:45I can read a little bit easier.
43:47Nixon was very much like our current president in that respect.
43:51He understood the impact of television,
43:54and so does our current president.
44:06The thing that's really striking
44:07about Richard Nixon's relationship
44:10to the medium of television
44:11is that it really created him
44:14as a national hero
44:16during the Checker speech in 1952.
44:18Ladies and gentlemen,
44:20Senator Richard Nixon.
44:21When she looked the American people in the eye
44:23and convinced them
44:24that he had not committed financial improprieties.
44:28We did get something, a gift,
44:30after the election.
44:32It was a little cocker spaniel dog,
44:35and our little girl, Tricia, the six-year-old,
44:37named it Checkers.
44:39And I just want to say this right now,
44:41that regardless of what they say about it,
44:43we're going to keep him.
44:44It probably undid his presidential campaign in 1960.
44:49I costed out the cost of the Democratic platform.
44:52His infamous debate,
44:54in which he kind of broke out in a sweat
44:56and was kind of stammering
44:57compared to this confident, handsome,
45:00young John F. Kennedy.
45:02This was the week that changed the world.
45:05It made him a hero again when he was in China,
45:09and people saw these glorious,
45:11sumptuous images of him, you know,
45:13making peace with America's ancient enemy.
45:16The president departs for home
45:18after his historic week in China.
45:20He thought very deliberately
45:22and very consciously and very obsessively
45:24about how he came across on television.
45:30Okay.
45:33All right, all set?
45:37And so, with the prospect of another Cronkite report
45:40on Watergate,
45:41Nixon launched a behind-the-scenes counterattack
45:44that at the time,
45:45I think only a conspiracy theorist could have conjured.
45:48There's somebody out there sitting on our side
45:50in the car and well.
45:52Chuck S. Kennedy was quite friendly
45:54because he thought,
45:55he said,
45:56they're not going to run.
45:57I do think if you work well,
45:59we're happy to try to talk to that asshole probably.
46:02Not to let these assholes
46:04that have crucified us.
46:08The second part was ready to air.
46:11Walter Honkite was ready to deliver it.
46:14All of a sudden,
46:15the White House apparently called
46:17William Paley,
46:19the owner of CBS.
46:22We got a call saying,
46:24we need to cut it down for time.
46:27It was very suspicious.
46:31Why did Paley stop him?
46:34I don't know why Paley stopped him.
46:36I think if Paley were alive today
46:37and somebody asked him,
46:38why did you stop him?
46:39He would most likely say,
46:41I made a mistake.
46:45And that was it.
46:46That was the extent of the television coverage
46:48of Watergate before the election.
46:53It was so smoothly handled,
46:55no one really noticed.
46:56Not even Mae Russell.
46:57Walter Cronkite did 15 minutes this week
47:01on the funding of the Watergate.
47:02And I think one or two years from now,
47:05people are going to be sorry
47:06that they didn't take those allegations seriously.
47:10And just a few weeks later,
47:12Richard Nixon was re-elected president
47:14in one of the biggest landslides
47:16in American history.
47:17I simply want to say
47:19from the bottom of my heart,
47:21thanks for making our last campaign
47:25the very best one of all.
47:29When Nixon was re-elected
47:31after all this,
47:33it was hard to believe.
47:35Yeah, it was frustrating
47:37to those people
47:38who saw that he was involved
47:41with a lot of this.
47:43How about that?
47:44The election's over
47:45and we made it.
47:46We've survived a couple of days,
47:48almost a week.
47:49For Mae,
47:50she never felt like she was finished.
47:53It wasn't over.
47:54She still needed to do more.
47:57It was almost business as usual
47:58the day after at the White House,
48:00but not quite.
48:02News Secretary Ron Ziegler
48:03described the mood here
48:04as one of satisfaction.
48:06For anyone who believed
48:07that Nixon had something to do
48:09with Watergate,
48:10his re-election
48:11made the burden of proof
48:12that much heavier.
48:14And as 1972 turned to 1973,
48:18most people just seemed to move on.
48:21Rousing America
48:22from its national indifference
48:23to Watergate
48:24was going to require
48:25a serious jolt.
48:29Seven men went on trial today
48:31in a Washington federal court
48:32charged with the break-in
48:33and burglary
48:34of Democratic National Headquarters
48:36in the Watergate building
48:37last June.
48:39Two are former White House aides.
48:41The other five
48:42were caught during the burglary.
48:43In January of 1973,
48:46the grand jury trial
48:47for the Watergate burglary began.
48:49The five men caught breaking in,
48:52plus the two men
48:53who orchestrated it,
48:54Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt,
48:55were all charged
48:56with burglary and conspiracy.
48:58But seeing as no one higher up
49:00was brought to trial,
49:01interest in the story
49:03continued to lag.
49:06If you watch the Watergate trial,
49:08they call 60 witnesses here,
49:10but they're calling 60 people
49:12that had nothing to do
49:13with the case.
49:14They're not calling Martha Mitchell.
49:15They're not calling John Mitchell.
49:17In these early court hearings,
49:19each time a new bit of information
49:21would come out,
49:22I would run to a pay phone.
49:25This is the way we did our reporting
49:27in those days.
49:28I would run to a pay phone
49:30and put a dime in
49:35and do my radio report
49:37on the phone.
49:38And by the time I got to the pay phone
49:40on the third floor
49:41of the courthouse,
49:43I was out of breath.
49:44So all my reports
49:46sounded as if it was a,
49:48you know,
49:48a five-alarm fire
49:50like that.
49:53And I learned
49:55that not one of those reports
49:57was ever put on radio.
49:59They would take them in
50:00and not use them.
50:03After 16 days
50:05and more than 100 pieces
50:06of evidence,
50:07the seven men charged
50:09were convicted of conspiracy,
50:11burglary,
50:11and wiretapping
50:12the Democratic Party's
50:13Watergate headquarters.
50:14I think when the record
50:16in this case
50:17becomes known,
50:19anybody who has
50:20a fair mind about it
50:21and is looking at it
50:22objectively
50:24would be able to conclude
50:25that this has been
50:27the most comprehensive,
50:29deep,
50:30thorough investigation
50:31that the FBI
50:32has ever made.
50:34And were it not
50:35for Judge John Sirica,
50:37that story
50:37might have stuck.
50:39Judge John Sirica
50:40indicated he was
50:41going to be tough
50:42to avoid any accusations
50:44of whitewash.
50:45When Hunt's lawyers
50:46objected,
50:47he said,
50:47I don't want to hear you.
50:48You can argue
50:49till doomsday.
50:50He set a sentencing date
50:51for March 23rd
50:52and given his demeanor
50:54throughout the trial,
50:55it seemed to be
50:56a safe bet
50:56that he was going
50:57to throw the book
50:58at them.
50:59He was known
51:00as a hard-nosed judge
51:01who liked to take
51:03the big ones
51:03on his own.
51:15He was basically
51:16chastising the prosecutor
51:18for not asking
51:20more pointed questions
51:21and continuing
51:23to ask these burglars.
51:24I remember this,
51:25who were the higher-ups?
51:27You weren't the top
51:28of this pyramid.
51:29Who were the higher-ups?
51:31And it was as if
51:32Sirica knew
51:33it went into
51:34the White House.
51:37And he was insistent
51:38and I thought,
51:39this is inappropriate.
51:40A judge shouldn't
51:41be doing that.
51:43I was kind of appalled
51:44at it,
51:45but it did the trick.
51:47Up until the trial,
51:49Howard Hunt
51:50had been willing
51:50to keep quiet
51:51for Nixon.
51:52But facing
51:53what could be
51:54extended jail time,
51:55the cost of his silence
51:57skyrocketed.
51:59Hunt sent a threat
52:00to me directly
52:01through one of
52:02the re-election
52:03committee lawyers.
52:04He said,
52:05you just tell Dean
52:06this.
52:07If he isn't paid
52:08$120,000,
52:11like yesterday,
52:13he's going to have
52:14seamy things to say
52:16about what he did
52:17for John Ehrlichman.
52:20We don't know
52:21exactly what happened,
52:22but Hunt did not
52:24break.
52:25Believer in the law,
52:27I understood then
52:29and understand now
52:30the consequences
52:31of breaking it.
52:48Another one of the men
52:49on trial,
52:50James McCord,
52:51who had been in charge
52:52of the bugging portion
52:53of the job,
52:54likely received
52:55a similar offer.
52:56He had been
52:57sort of an electronics
52:58janitor
52:59at the CIA.
53:01where he was
53:02responsible that
53:03nobody was bugging
53:05the Langley headquarters.
53:07When he retired,
53:09he was going to
53:10set up a private
53:11consulting and
53:12security firm.
53:15Those plans
53:16were in jeopardy
53:17now that he'd been
53:18found guilty
53:18of a federal crime.
53:19Although he was
53:20hoping for the best,
53:22he as well as I
53:23was not shocked
53:25at the verdict.
53:26And with a full
53:27two months
53:27before the sentencing date,
53:29McCord had ample time
53:30to remember
53:31how he got there
53:32in the first place.
53:33All he knew
53:33was what Liddy
53:34told him.
53:36And a lot of it
53:37was false.
53:38Liddy needed
53:39a wire man,
53:41as he called it,
53:42somebody who knew
53:43how to conduct
53:43electronic surveillance.
53:46And it appears
53:47he got McCord
53:47to do it
53:48by, in essence,
53:50lying to him
53:50about, you know,
53:51what the authority
53:52was and paying him,
53:54paying him a lot
53:55a lot of money.
53:57McCord needed
53:58the extra money
53:59because he had
54:00a handicapped child.
54:04And so I think
54:06that's how McCord
54:06got sucked into it.
54:18Everything came
54:19to a head
54:20on the day
54:20of sentencing.
54:21March 23rd, 1973.
54:24Judge Sirica
54:25was ill that day.
54:27The court
54:27started late.
54:28The judge
54:29was going
54:29into his offices
54:31to take
54:31Pepto-Bismol
54:32or something.
54:33His stomach
54:33was really
54:34bothering him.
54:35And he said,
54:36I'm going to have
54:37something for you
54:37in 10 minutes.
54:39So we had
54:40no idea
54:41what it was.
54:45What would happen
54:46transformed Watergate
54:48from something
54:48history probably
54:49would have remembered
54:50as a third-rate
54:51burglary
54:51and turned it
54:52into the rich
54:53political epic
54:54that we now
54:54know it to be.
54:56Good morning,
54:57Mr. McCoy.
55:01Judge Sirica
55:02revealed
55:03that one of the
55:04defendants,
55:05James McCord,
55:07had written
55:07him a letter.
55:09Judge John Sirica
55:10opened by saying
55:11he had received
55:12the letter
55:12from McCord.
55:13McCord wrote
55:14that several
55:15members of his
55:15family expressed
55:16fear for his
55:17life for disclosing
55:18what he knows.
55:19Then came
55:19the bombshells.
55:20There was
55:21political pressure
55:22on the defendants
55:23to plead guilty
55:24and to remain
55:24silent,
55:25wrote McCord.
55:26Perjury occurred
55:27during the trial.
55:28Others involved
55:29in the Watergate
55:30operation were not
55:31identified during
55:32the trial.
55:33When he read
55:34James McCord's
55:35letter,
55:35it was,
55:36it broke
55:37a big dam.
55:38There was a
55:39sensational
55:40development in
55:40the Watergate
55:41trial today.
55:42One of the
55:43key defendants
55:44says there was
55:44political pressure
55:45and perjury
55:46involved in the
55:47trial.
55:48Reporters were
55:49stunned.
55:49Nobody knew
55:49this was coming
55:50and they ran
55:51out of the
55:52courtroom to
55:52make phone
55:53calls.
55:53This was
55:54supposed to
55:54be the finale
55:55for the seven
55:56Watergate
55:56defendants the
55:57day of sentencing,
55:58but instead the
55:59case broke
56:00wide open again.
56:01Mr. McCord,
56:02you did say in
56:03your letter that
56:04your family had
56:04been afraid for
56:05your life and
56:06that you too had
56:07feared retaliation.
56:08What did you
56:09mean by that?
56:10I have no
56:11further comment.
56:11The man who
56:12had a special
56:13Senate investigation,
56:14North Carolina's
56:15Sam Irvin, said he
56:16hopes the White
56:17House will now be
56:18more cooperative in
56:19bringing out all
56:19the facts.
56:20The McCord
56:21letter was the
56:22tipping point of
56:22the Watergate saga.
56:24But apart from
56:25lighting the fuse that
56:26would eventually burn
56:27down Nixon's
56:27administration, it did
56:29something else pretty
56:30extraordinary.
56:31At least for one
56:32day, it aligned the
56:34May Brussels of the
56:35world with the
56:36Woodwards and
56:36Bernstein's.
56:37It was a very
56:38important day for
56:39the Watergate group
56:40because now we're
56:41in a different
56:41ballgame.
56:42The McCord
56:42letter made
56:43Watergate a
56:44conspiracy, officially.
56:46This has caused
56:47shockwaves in
56:48Washington and
56:48we'll have
56:49detailed coverage.
56:50And all of a
56:51sudden, everyone
56:52who disregarded the
56:53odd coincidences of
56:54the Flight 553
56:55crash in Chicago,
56:57and in the end,
56:57that's all they
56:58proved to be,
56:59mere coincidences,
57:00they had to now
57:01start paying
57:02closer attention to
57:03the widening scope
57:04of this story.
57:06because Watergate
57:07now had legs.
57:08We're right in the
57:09middle of a very
57:10important time in
57:11American history,
57:12and I tried to turn
57:14people on to the
57:14history of their
57:15times.
57:15That's what this is
57:16all about.
57:19I have mixed
57:20feelings about
57:21May Brussels.
57:22I think she was
57:23looking for answers
57:24to better understand
57:25a world that she
57:25didn't trust,
57:27answers that she
57:28believed would
57:28protect her
57:29children.
57:30But that effort
57:31led her and her
57:32listeners to some
57:33dark and unlikely
57:34conclusions.
57:35In this instance,
57:36though, Watergate
57:38proved her right.
57:39The government
57:40really did lie
57:41and cheat and
57:42steal.
57:43And it
57:44abandoned its
57:45people to
57:46maintain power.
58:14The stage was now set
58:15for the next chapter of
58:16Watergate.
58:17And, much to the horror of
58:19Richard Nixon, it would
58:21all play out on live
58:22television.
58:23The Senate Watergate
58:24hearings, just weeks
58:26away, were about to
58:27become the greatest show
58:29on earth.
58:32Programs regularly
58:33scheduled for this time
58:34will not be seen today
58:35in order that we might
58:36bring you the following
58:37NBC News special report.
58:44Good morning.
58:45This is the Senate
58:46caucus room in
58:47Washington, D.C.
58:48And it's jammed this
58:49morning, jammed with
58:50spectators, newsmen,
58:51senators, and their
58:52aides.
58:53And the scene adds to
58:54the sense of drama
58:56as the Senate opens
58:57what is likely to become
58:58the most serious
58:59investigation it has
59:00ever made.
59:01An investigation of the
59:02American political
59:03system and the
59:04presidency itself.
59:05The first of the
59:06military, he's
59:06the band, he's
59:07the band, he's
59:07the band, he's
59:07the band.
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